Rockstar Sues BBC over Grand Theft Auto Drama

Rockstar has filed a lawsuit against the BBC in relation to the corporations’ upcoming drama Game Changer, which focuses on Grand Theft Auto.

The 90-minute drama looks at the rise of Rockstar and the conflict which raged between the company’s president Sam Houser and lawyer Jack Thompson. It stars Daniel Radcliffe as Houser and Bill Paxton as Thompson, and is set for release later this year.

However, in a statement provided to IGN, Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the company, claiming that despite references to the company, Rockstar has had no official input in the with the drama:

“Take-Two Interactive has filed suit against the BBC for trademark infringement based on their movie currently titled ‘Game Changer’ as it relates to Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto video game series.

“While holders of the trademarks referenced in the film title and its promotion, Rockstar Games has had no involvement with this project. Our goal is to ensure that our trademarks are not misused in the BBC’s pursuit of an unofficial depiction of purported events related to Rockstar Games. We have attempted multiple times to resolve this matter with the BBC without any meaningful resolution. It is our obligation to protect our intellectual property and unfortunately in this case litigation was necessary.”

The drama is being made as part of the BBC’s season celebrating the importance of coding, with reports suggesting it is based on David Kushner’s book ‘Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto’.

What Take-Two hopes to achieve with this lawsuit is still to be seen, it could ask for more creative input or hope to try and prevent the Rockstar name and GTA brand from actually appearing in the drama.

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